Chester Krick was an avid pool player in his early teens.
He also loved woodworking. In the 1980s, he owned a small woodworking shop,
making furniture and antique reproductions. His first cue was factory made.
It played alright, but he thought that he could improve it. He worked on it
and basically ruined it trying to make it play better. But from that
experience, he thought he could build a better cue. He did a lot of research
about how to make cues, but information was, and still is, scarce. He
finally stumbled across an Internet article about a cue maker named Dennis
Dieckman, who was willing to sell information about the art of cue building.
Chester called him and visited his shop in Michigan, and after several hours
of conversation, decided that he could build cues.

Chester bought a lathe and started making and repairing cues in 1995. He learned
by trail and error. It was and still is his goal to make a cue that plays well.
The decorative aspect of the cue is secondary. Chester wanted to make two-piece
cues that hit like a one-piece clue. He decided that a flat-face wood-to-wood
joint was the best way to minimize the hardware at the joint. His first cues
were not very fancy, but they hit pretty well. After making about every possible
mistake, his cues improved in both function and decoration.

In 1996, Chester built a small website with photos of his cues
and outlined his philosophy on cue making. To his surprise, lots of orders
started coming in for his custom cues. At that point, he went full time into
building cues and started reinvesting profits into better equipment. He got a
hobby-type CNC machine to do inlays, but it wasn't long before he built his own
CNC inlay machine. This machine was more industrial and did a better job with
accuracy. Chester didn't know how to program CNC codes, so he bought a CAD
program and taught himself how to draw inlays using Autocad. He then got a
program that converted the drawings into machine code, and he was then off and
running, making his own inlays on a machine that he had made himself.

Chester decided that he would not keep what he knew about cue
making a secret. He offered to tutor students in how to build cues. Steve Klein
was one of the first aspiring cue makers who worked with Chester. Steve is kind
enough to give Chester a lot of credit for helping him to become a first rate
cue maker. Chester has made many other friends and contacts through sharing of
cue information, such as Dave Barenbrugge from Arizona. Dave and Chester have
both benefited by sharing information.

Chester Krick's
proudest day as a cue maker came in July of 2002 when Sonny Tan won the
Singapore National 8 ball championship using a CK Custom Cue. He actually
borrowed the cue from the original customer, and practiced with it for only two
weeks before winning the National title. Chester has had an increase in demand
for his cues since the day Sonny won using a CK Custom Cue.

For the past two years, Chester has designed and developed a new
joint pin called the Supra, and is now in the process of getting his product
patented and trademarked.